Do you mean "St. John's College" at Cambridge? Where they pound on the table after a few drinks in their outrageously expensive robes in their gilded medieval dining hall and sing "I'd rather be at Oxford than St. John's"? Because if so, wtf? How would you even begin to rate that?

I guess if you found yourself at a secret meeting of the Gun Club at Berkeley, whistfully thinking through a whiskey haze about much you'd rather be a Bonesman at Yale, then you might have something of an equivalency.

Unlike mainstream U.S. colleges, St. John's avoids modern textbooks, lectures, and examinations. Instead of textbooks, in addition to primary materials, the college relies on a series of manuals. While traditional (A through F) grades are given, the culture of the school deemphasizes their importance and grades are released only at the request of the student. Grading is based largely on class participation and papers. Tutors, as faculty members are called at the College, play a non-directive role in the classroom, compared to mainstream colleges. However, at St. John's this does vary somewhat by course and instructor.

The four-year program of study, nearly all of which is mandatory, demands that students read and discuss the works of many of Western civilization's most prominent contributors to philosophy, theology, mathematics, science, music, poetry, and literature, such as Aristotle, Shakespeare, Descartes, and Einstein. In line with the views of the program's founders—who complained of "vocational interests" that "clutter" other colleges' curricula—"Johnnies", as St. John's students style themselves, usually value intellectual pursuits for their own sake, regardless of whether they have practical application.

Despite its name, and the inclusion of Christian sacred texts and philosophers in its program, St. John's College has no religious affiliation.

And to follow up my clarification of what exactly the OP meant, I think the 'St. John's College' of law schools would have to be Washington & Lee. They recently revamped their third year program to break free of long-established law school tradition. It should be noted that W&L's third year was revamped to stress greater practicality, which is sort of opposite the mission of St. John's College - a school predicated on promoting academic discussion and thought regardless of practical implications. But their other traditions such as the honor system, their small class sizes and their emphasis on camaraderie over competition seem to jive with the approach of St. John's College, at least more so than any other law school that I've come across.

Unlike mainstream U.S. colleges, St. John's avoids modern textbooks, lectures, and examinations. Instead of textbooks, in addition to primary materials, the college relies on a series of manuals. While traditional (A through F) grades are given, the culture of the school deemphasizes their importance and grades are released only at the request of the student. Grading is based largely on class participation and papers. Tutors, as faculty members are called at the College, play a non-directive role in the classroom, compared to mainstream colleges. However, at St. John's this does vary somewhat by course and instructor.

The four-year program of study, nearly all of which is mandatory, demands that students read and discuss the works of many of Western civilization's most prominent contributors to philosophy, theology, mathematics, science, music, poetry, and literature, such as Aristotle, Shakespeare, Descartes, and Einstein. In line with the views of the program's founders—who complained of "vocational interests" that "clutter" other colleges' curricula—"Johnnies", as St. John's students style themselves, usually value intellectual pursuits for their own sake, regardless of whether they have practical application.

Despite its name, and the inclusion of Christian sacred texts and philosophers in its program, St. John's College has no religious affiliation.

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krzyreeesh wrote:And to follow up my clarification of what exactly the OP meant, I think the 'St. John's College' of law schools would have to be Washington & Lee. They recently revamped their third year program to break free of long-established law school tradition. It should be noted that W&L's third year was revamped to stress greater practicality, which is sort of opposite the mission of St. John's College - a school predicated on promoting academic discussion and thought regardless of practical implications. But their other traditions such as the honor system, their small class sizes and their emphasis on camaraderie over competition seem to jive with the approach of St. John's College, at least more so than any other law school that I've come across.

Unlike mainstream U.S. colleges, St. John's avoids modern textbooks, lectures, and examinations. Instead of textbooks, in addition to primary materials, the college relies on a series of manuals. While traditional (A through F) grades are given, the culture of the school deemphasizes their importance and grades are released only at the request of the student. Grading is based largely on class participation and papers. Tutors, as faculty members are called at the College, play a non-directive role in the classroom, compared to mainstream colleges. However, at St. John's this does vary somewhat by course and instructor.

The four-year program of study, nearly all of which is mandatory, demands that students read and discuss the works of many of Western civilization's most prominent contributors to philosophy, theology, mathematics, science, music, poetry, and literature, such as Aristotle, Shakespeare, Descartes, and Einstein. In line with the views of the program's founders—who complained of "vocational interests" that "clutter" other colleges' curricula—"Johnnies", as St. John's students style themselves, usually value intellectual pursuits for their own sake, regardless of whether they have practical application. Despite its name, and the inclusion of Christian sacred texts and philosophers in its program, St. John's College has no religious affiliation.

No, it's what a classical liberal-arts education is supposed to be like. Or was, once.

Anyway.....you wouldn't want a "great books"-like approach to an initial legal education. If that's what interests you in the law, you should be looking to go wherever will help you gain access to whichever LLM/SJD programs appeal to you. Some law schools have a reputation for being more academic/intellectual (UCLA comes to mind) but nothing that mirrors St. Johns vs. most other schools.

At least, that's how I understand it. This sort of thing appeals to me too, but I gather it's best satisfied by personal reading. (I know: 'what's that?')

Last edited by Duralex on Sun May 16, 2010 11:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

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profs<3mycomments wrote:whattttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt this is like every conversation I've ever had with a homeless person. Actually no, that's not fair. This is like ten conversations I've had with homeless people.